Coming Out
by Philisnotonfirebecause
Summary: After dating for over 6 years, Dan and Phil finally decide to announce their relationship to the world. How will the fans take it? Will Dan and Phil cope with all the drama that is about to unfold?
1. Chapter 1

Dan could hear his heart beating rapidly in his chest. He wasn't aware of anything else around him. Nothing else seemed to really matter, except for the computer screen in front of him and the loud _thump-thump-thump_ in heart echoing up into his skull. The video had taken a long time to plan, record, edit and then process, but finally it was ready to be uploaded. Thousands of people were going to see it within seconds of Dan clicking that upload button. If he clicked that button, his whole life was going to change forever, and he couldn't figure out whether it would be the making of him or whether he would see his career crash and burn.

Of course, it wasn't just his career this would impact. This would affect Phil too. Dan felt his chest swell as he thought of his dorky boyfriend. He loved the man, they'd been dating for years now, but the rest of the world hadn't known. And they'd liked that. It had been just Dan and Phil and no one else, they hadn't even told their families in case they accidentally let something slip. Phil didn't have as many subscribers as Dan, there were a lot of people that only liked Dan and didn't like Phil. Dan couldn't help but think that Phil was going to come out of this worse than he would. Phil was currently sat in the living room downstairs, waiting for Dan to upload the video and then support the younger man as much as Dan needed it, even if Phil needed it too.

The video was explaining their relationship to the world. They had decided to finally tell the world of their relationship as it was beginning to get more and more difficult to hide. When they had first started dating, they were both two little English youtubers that a handful of people had heard of. Now they had a book, and a worldwide tour, and huge fan base. Everywhere they went, they would bump into fans, people that knew them and have what little privacy they had would be ripped away from them again. They never got any time alone when they left the apartment and people were always asking if Phan was true, they were always pushing their noses in where they weren't wanted. And even though they had both always kept there cool when asked and hadn't got annoyed at a single fan yet, they wanted their privacy back.

Dan clicked upload.

There, it was done. Dan could feel his mind about to go into overdrive as he sat back and stared at the screen. In the hopes of avoiding a break down, he forced himself up and travelled through the flat until he found Phil, curled up on the sofa staring at a blank TV. Stepping closer to him, Phil looked up, nerves written all over his face. Silently, Dan moved across the room and curled himself into Phil's side as the latter put his arm around him and pulled him close, pressing a small light kiss to his temple. Both men now sat in silence staring at the blank TV screen. Nothing needed to be said. They both knew the other so well they knew what they were thinking, and what they needed to help get them both threw this.

Phil's phone on the table began to buzz violently and Dan's did the same in his pocket. They both looked at each other, worry etched on their faces and sat still until Phil broke the silence.

"Turn our phones off?" His voice shook as he spoke but his eyes didn't leave Dan's for a second. Dan nodded in response. Almost simultaneously, they both reached for the phones and held the off button until the screen went dark, not daring to look at any notifications in the process. The silence shortly became deafening and gave them both the illusion of drowning in their own thoughts so Dan grabbed the TV remote and quickly turned it on, leaving it on whatever channel came on first (ITV, Jeremy Kyle) .

They both sat there, watching some random guy fail his lie detector results and his girlfriend leave him as the sunset outside. The programme change but neither of them really noticed. Outside was pitch dark and the clock said almost 1am before either of them moved again. Neither of them wanted anything to eat, it felt like their insides were tying themselves into knots over how anxious they were.

"Bedtime?" Dan whispered as they both began to get up. This time it was Phil's turn to just nod in response as both men headed towards Dan's room after taking each other's hand.

Phil curled up under Dan's duvet as the latter put his pyjamas on and joined him. They huddled up together, wrapping their arms around one another as Dan placed his head on Phil's chest. Phil's eyes began to get heavy as he lay there cuddling Dan and soon he couldn't keep himself awake any longer. He whispered a 'Goodnight' to Dan, pressed a kiss to his forehead and began to drift off the sleep, knowing the Dan was going to awake for hours yet.


	2. Chapter 2

For a few moments, when Dan first woke up, there was nothing on his mind. Nothing at all, except the calm warmth of sharing a bed with his boyfriend. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, but he knew what he'd would see the moment he did. The first thing he would see would be Phil's brightly coloured pyjama top, with his arms pulling Dan closer to his chest. If he looked up slightly he would see Phil's face, pressed against the dark coloured pillow, his hair a mess and his face peaceful. He opened his eyes to see if he was right, and he was. Phil was there, pressed up against him, still sound asleep. Dan couldn't help but smile at his boyfriend. They were happy together, had been for years now, and Phil was Dan's whole world.

He moved slightly to get more comfortable and Phil began to stir as well. He opened his eyes slightly, obviously still half asleep and saw Dan smiling up at him. He smiled back and tried to whisper a good morning but it came out as mumbled nonsense. He squeezed Dan closer against his chest for a minute before letting him go. As soon as Phil removed his arms from around Dan, Dan seemed to remember what they'd done yesterday and his anxiety came flooding back. Neither of them had any idea of what they would be facing when they finally decided to let the outside world in.

Sitting up, Phil looked over at Dan's worried face and said "You ready?" He been fairly calm about the whole thing but now that they were only moments away from finding out how their fans would react - or if they even had any fans left - he was beginning to get a lot more nervous, he could feel the butterflies waging war in his stomach. That evil little voice in the back of his mind was telling him all the ways this could go wrong, that they shouldn't find out, that they should put it off for as long as possible just to put off the inevitable shitstorm that they were walking right into.

Dan nodded and they both got out of bed. They'd left their phones in the living room, trying to distance themselves from everyone's reactions as much as possible. Deciding to put it off even more, they decided to have some breakfast and have a shower first. Dan got two bowls out, and the cereal and milk, and noted that there was much less of his cereal then there was the day before. He gave Phil an exasperated glance and Phil giggled as Dan made them both breakfast.

They sat in silence as they ate their breakfast, leaving their dirty dishes next to the dishwasher instead of putting them in the dishwasher once they'd finished it. They were both too nervous to show any major signs of affection for eachother so they decided to shower separately. Phil went in first, whilst Dan turned on the telly and watched the morning news, knowing that him and Phil weren't famous enough for any of their drama to be mentioned. He was watching the tv, but nothing he was seeing was really going in, his mind was more focused on later on when they were going to turn their phones back on.

After about 20 minutes, Phil appeared, hair dripping wet and towel wrapped around his waist. He gave Dan a quick kiss as Dan passed him and entered the bathroom. it only took him a few minutes to have a shower, especially since Phil had used most of the hot water. He was back in the living room within 15 minutes. He'd gotten dressed in black jeans and a plain black tee, but hadn't done his hair, instead deciding to leave it to dry however it wanted. Phil had gotten dressed too, and was now wearing lime green joggers with a cartoon pattern on them with a plain white top.

They sat in silence next to each other staring at their phones for a few minutes, trying to get enough courage to turn them on. After 7 minutes, Phil turned to Dan and said "Now is as good a time as any?" and reached forward and picked up his phone, pressing the button to turn it on. Seeing Phil turning his phone on, Dan decided he should do the same, so reached out and did so before he had chance to change his mind.

As the screen lit up, his phone began to vibrate and beep uncontrollably as he received notifications from throughout the night.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Reaction

The screens on their phones lit up as all the notifications came through. A mixture of Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, texts and missed calls. They waited a minute and or so for the majority of the notifications to come through, both tightly squeezing the other's hand at the same time. Dan breathing quick shallow breaths, Phil breathing long deep breaths to help calm him down.

Together, they looked at their phones and scrolled through all the various responses. There were people screaming about how they were right, that they had never lost faith despite all the people telling them it wasn't true, and that it had all paid off. New fan art was already beginning to appear, it really was amazing how quickly the fans worked, and some of it made the boys smile through the nerves.

But then, of course, there was the hate. The regular homophobes, the ones that didn't just leave their comments and go, the ones that keep making their views clear, spewing more insults every second, not letting others get on with their lives. There were also people who didn't care either way, but their parents were making them stop watching them as they feared they would "catch the gay".

It hurt, of course it did, but it was nothing they hadn't expected. You couldn't be as popular as them and not get hate, especially when it came to something like this. But that didn't necessarily make the pain any easier.

Scattered throughout the hurtful comments, there were the people that genuinely cared, the ones that kept telling them how much courage it must have taken them to come out, knowing how so many would react, and that they supported them, no matter who they were attracted too. They needed to remember that people like this were out there, and focus on their comments, try their best to ignore the hate.

Dan had been so preoccupied with reading all the reactions, he almost forgot that Phil was sat right next to him. He was only reminded of that fact when he felt Phil's body press against his, his body shaking slightly. Dan turned to him to tears silently running down his face.


End file.
